


Love As It Is - Part 4

by Biodiversity (SoraSato)



Series: Overdrive [4]
Category: Is It Love (Visual Novels)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Anal Fingering, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Harm to Animals, Limerence, Multi, animal sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:07:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25465999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraSato/pseuds/Biodiversity
Summary: The kinky adventures of a talented young archaeology student at the Mystic Spell town full of supernatural creatures. She finds herself entangled in a polyamory with the Bartholy brothers, when the drop-dead gorgeous archaeology professor comes along to complicate things even further...NOTE: The character of professor Sebastian Jones shape-shifts into a jaguar as explained in previous parts;Bartholys became Bartolis, Viktor became Vittore, Nicolae became Nicolas, and other minor differences.WARNING: Contains an episode of cruelty toward a jaguar
Relationships: Nicolae Bartholy/Peter Bartholy/Drogo Bartholy/Sebastian Jones/Original Female Character
Series: Overdrive [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774561
Kudos: 3





	1. Competition

COMPETITION

“A text from Drogo? That’s a new one.” Sienna eagerly opened it. Truth be told she missed him most of all, and this text happened to be very welcome.

It said:

“ _Come 2 the manor tonite. No 1 will b there. There’s somthn 4 u in ur bedroom_.”

She smiled. Oh, Drogo, what are you up to?

Now she could not wait until the end of the classes, and when the last bell rang, she just told Sarah not to wait for her, took a bike, and rode to the Bartoli manor.

She was surprised by her own hastiness and nervously pulled at the gate.

It was open, as usual, and the grounds were deserted.

The girl scurried to the first floor, to her bedroom, and, half-expecting to see Drogo, stood there for a few moments, uncomprehending.

There was no one.

Then she cast a glance on her bed and saw a few items lying there. She approached and saw two dresses – one red and one golden, both with attached notes.

The golden one turned out to be a cropped top with matching airy skirt and glittering leggings. The note read: “Let all members of the jury ravish you with their lustful gazes”. This is so Drogo! She smiled and looked at the red one.

It was pure silk, long and flowing, with Drogo’s favorite spaghetti straps, a very simple but infinitely sensual design. The note said: “Don’t wear anything under this nightie ;)”

A diamond bracelet lay on top of the red dress with its own note: “I wanted to cover your throat with black diamonds, but this will be for another time.”

Sweet shivers ran down Sienna’s spine.

“Drogo! Where are you!” she called out loud, running out of the room. “I don’t believe you could leave this without being able to watch me! Show yourself!”

But the manor stayed silent.

Sienna pondered on what to do next, then returned to her room, packed the contest dress into her bag, then took off all her clothes, donned the ecstatic red dress that felt like a million butterfly kisses on the skin, put on the bracelet and painted her lips red with the lipstick left lying in the bathroom. Somehow the fact that the brothers failed to pack this lipstick along with her other belongings spoke volumes to her.

She sighed and left the lipstick lying there.

Then she lay down on her bed, determined to wait.

But a phone ring awoke her. She had dozed off, and now she opened her eyes in complete darkness.

It was Sarah, probably worrying about her long absence.

Sienna took the call.

“Yes, Sarah, I’m fine, I’ll soon be at your home.”

Then she hesitated and texted to Drogo: “ _Thank u 4 the contest outfit, I’ll take it 4 the competition. The red dress calls 4 a spectator. The 1 who bought it_.”

She sat on the bed, thinking. Then she went to the bathroom to wipe off the lipstick, and, suddenly, she saw in the mirror the phone screen switching off behind her.

She gasped and turned over.

The blond vampire detached himself from the wall, a crooked grin on his face, his eyes fixing her with a feverish shine in them.

Slowly, he approached her, devouring her with his eyes.

Then he planted a chaste kiss on her forehead and turned her away from him.

Now she could observe him in the mirror, but this scene had nothing to do with the one when he first seduced her. The previous time, she had wanted the professor; this time was so much different.

He just stood there, watching her, and she was watching him through the mirror.

After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and spoke:

“I was standing here, listening to you calling me, then I was listening to your quiet sleepy breathing, I watched you sleeping… Your curves, your lips… And I could not decide whether it was more or less painful than you ridding my chest with bullets…”

She wanted to say something, but he shook his head, forbidding her to interrupt him.

Then he continued:

“And I decided that I would rather let you shoot me every day than have visions of you every night, imagining your routines, remembering the scent on your pajamas, fantasizing about your caresses…”

Sienna stood, shaken, unable to breathe a word, her gaze glued to Drogo’s contorted face.

Then he sighed, took out his phone, fiddled with it, and said to her:

“To make it easier for you to decide, let me show you how we see ourselves in mirrors…”

And he let a black light shine on his face.

A fraction of a second Sienna could not understand what she was registering, and then she let out a shriek of horror.

Under the blacklight, Drogo’s face looked totally alien and grotesque. Despite the girl’s reaction, he kept the light steady on his face, making sure she got a good look at him.

But Sienna surprised him again. She did not run screaming, but gasped a few times, collected herself, warily turned to him, but saw Drogo’s regular face. Then she reluctantly looked again in the mirror and shuddered. Breathing heavily, she started to carefully study the eerie vision.

“So… your everyday look is an illusion? Or is this some sort of optical deception?” she asked in a husky voice, her body uncontrollably shuddering.

The gargoyle grimaced. He shook his head.

“No one knows for sure. But that’s what we look like in mirrors.”

“And on photos?”

“Same. To us. I suppose people would see us as people. At least no one ran screaming after taking selfies with me…”

Sienna turned to him and caressed his cheek.

“You poor soul. So, you haven’t seen yourself in ages? That must be just some odd quirk of nature…”

She felt his face and checked it against what she saw in the mirror.

“I don’t understand. It’s as if it was just painted on. It doesn’t actually change the form of your face, and it feels like you have only two eyes and not six…”

Drogo switched off the phone and stood there, relishing in the feeling of her touch and feasting his eyes on her.

Sienna looked at him in the feeble light from the window.

“What I just saw is irrelevant. Good for Halloween though and intriguing for research…”

Drogo smirked.

“Just don’t think I’ll accept to be your guinea pig!”

She shrugged her shoulders and slightly smiled.

“I can always call upon other candidates…”

“Ah, you got me there…”

Involuntarily, his hands brushed against her sides, longing to touch her.

“Drogo, I…”

He dropped his hands.

“I know, you have your Sarah worrying. I’ll come to see your performance, and if the judges just think about giving you anything but gold, I’ll make a blood bath there!”

Sienna laughed and leaned her forehead against his chin.

“Is that a promise?”

“Oh yes!”

“Good.”

She lifted her head and kissed his chin.

“How do you shave if you see… ugh… that in the mirror?”

Drogo shrugged.

“We shave each other. Once a year…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. Let me carry you to your friend’s house, or she’ll soon go ballistic.”

Sienna smiled.

“Okay. Just a minute.”

She smoothly took off the red dress and gave it, still warm, to the vampire, then smiled at him with her eyes and went to the bedroom to put on her usual clothes.

Drogo grabbed her dress and buried his face in it, avidly inhaling its scent and steeling himself against looking at her naked body.

***

ARTICLE IN THE NEWSPAPER

“This year’s dance contest made light of an astounding duet of Dr. Sebastian Caleb Jones and miss Sienna Laurenza Richards, both from the Mystic Spell University of Fine Arts and Humanities. Together, they brought in a fresh gulp of air to our annual event and raised it to an unreachable new level. Their unparalleled mastery of the bodies, their elegant lightness and the seamless flow of movements left both the public and the jury mesmerized…”


	2. Halloween

HALLOWEEN

Sienna almost tripped on someone’s unconscious body and went on in search of a drink.

The hardest thing at this party proved to lose her friend Sarah and, second hardest, leave professor Jones, dressed as an Aztec deity, alone surrounded by craving demonesses, cute corpse brides, and smoldering Santa Muertas.

Her long Queen Mab dress trailed on the ruined lawn, rustling against paper cups and other junk. In the semi-dark of the park, as her luck would have it, she bumped right into tipsy Loan.

“Woah! Isn’t this the famous Queen B. that I see here?” he exclaimed, ogling her and trying to grab her by the arm. “Say, it’s not you who should be wearing these horns but half of the campus!” he sniggered unpleasantly and tried to pull her closer to him.

“Loan! Shouldn’t you be somewhere else licking Samantha’s ass?” snapped Sienna at him, trying to wriggle out of Loan’s bear grip.

“Oh, I’d rather lick your ass for sure,” leered Loan, pawing the girl.

“Let me go!”

“Your dear boyfriend Drogo is cuckold as it is, so what’s the difference? One less, one more!”

Sienna’s anger exploded in an unexpected manner. She slapped Loan so hardly that the latter’s head went spinning.

“Don’t you dare badmouth him! Or anyone else, for that matter, you pathetic prick! If once again I hear you spewing your dirty gossips, I swear I’ll twist your balls off!”

A malign fire sparked in Loan’s eyes, and he lifted his arm to hit her.

But in the next instant, he was flying across the lawn.

A guy in a hideous alien’s head mask stood beside the gasping Sienna.

“Tsk-tsk-tsk! One cannot leave this little thing for five minutes without her attracting trouble! I’m very pleased, however, with your noble sentiment and impressive threat!”

She looked at the monstrosity.

“Drogo?”

The guy laughed.

“The one and only. Dressed in a loser’s costume – see, I’ve even got no costume tonight!”

Sienna looked around. People, who’ve gathered for the fight scene started to dissipate, and the two of them were left alone.

“And where’s Peter?” she asked distractedly while checking her dress for rips.

Drogo shrugged his shoulders.

“You know, it’s not his cup of tea. And Nicolas’s been morbid lately to the point that even I can’t stand him.”

Sienna frowned.

“And how’s Lorie?”

Drogo laughed softly.

“Oh, that one! She seems fine but her tantrums start to get to me, I don’t know how you handled her…”

Sienna sighed and lowered her head.

“Thanks for… eh… saving me from that moron.”

The vampire nodded.

“An icky character. And he was degrading me! Starting tomorrow, I’ll make his life hell.”

Sienna smiled and looked at the alien-headed man. She hesitated, then reached for his face and felt it.

“It’s rubber!” she looked outraged. “Did you pull a number on me, Drogo?!”

The guy laughed softly, gathered both her little fists into his palms, and pressed them to his chest.

“Oh, you look so adorable when you are furious, my little nanny!” he took his sweet time to admire her fury, never letting her hands out of his steel grip, then said soothingly: “No, no, I didn’t pull your leg, I swear! I just found this mask on the Internet and was very curious as to who could do something so similar… So, I made a trip, found the artisan, and… shall we say it was an interesting visit… but when I was leaving, I thought it would be cool to wear it on Halloween, as you’ve suggested earlier…”

Sienna stopped resisting him and looked into the dark sockets of the mask. Spontaneously, she freed one of her hands and lifted the mask. Drogo’s eyes watched her with a bittersweet expression.

“Was it some connection to the Descendants?” she asked in a whisper.

Her vampire friend winced.

“We made a deal not to get you involved in this affair… But yeah, you guessed right…”

The girl sighed.

“Will it soon be over?”

Drogo shrugged his shoulders and winked to her:

“Can’t be any more specific, but we are doing our best to make you a Christmas present…”

The girl caressed his cheek and drew toward him to kiss him, but the vampire moaned and pulled out at the last moment.

“Stop it, little thing. It’s too painful. I want you and I cannot resist you, so don’t provoke me.”

Sienna sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Drogo moaned and pressed her tightly against his marble-hard body. His hands started forcefully rubbing her back and buttocks, squeezing gasps of pleasure out of her.

“Mmmmm, run, little thing, or I’ll have you right here on this lawn…”

“Drogo…”

The vampire lifted her by her buttocks, pressed her hips against his own, making her wrap her thighs around his torso and, supporting her butt with one hand, pressed her upper torso tightly against his chest and covered her mouth with his lips. His tongue so arduously kneaded hers that in a few minutes he felt her crotch becoming very hot and wet.

“I warned you,” he whispered in a hoarse growl, pressing the girl’s back to a tree and pulling at the hem of her dress with his free hand.

She was panting and clasping him tightly, oblivious to the party raging around them.

“I missed you, Drogo!”

Someone said in passing: “Go get a room, you pervs!”

But the majority of people were not so much against some hot action right under their noses.

Students hooted, cheered and betted on them, but the enraptured couple couldn’t care less about their surroundings, and they would go on if a teacher’s voice wouldn’t cover the hum of the crowd:

“Hey, you two, stop shagging in public! I’m talking to you, mister Bartoli!”

Sienna half-opened her eyes to see a tall Aztec figure approaching them, his phosphorescent eyes flashing terrifying bolts of lightning. Professor Jones was barely containing himself. He even started resembling a furious jaguar. Maybe it was just a play of light and shadow on his skin but it seemed that his flesh became spotted.

Drogo turned his face to him, and his eyes became the color of blood.

Electricity seemed to fill the air; another second, and two mighty creatures would throw themselves head on to rip each other apart.

So, Sienna, having made an enormous effort to collect her wits, laughed out loud, pretending to be drunk and completely ignoring the surrounding tension, said:

“I’m so sorry, sir, we’ve just got carried away a bit, you know! No one’s got hurt in the process…!” she giggled in the silliest manner and hiccupped.

Trembling with rage, professor Jones lowered his head, his jaws and fists clenched, and uttered with an enormous effort:

“Miss Richards, I advise you to find your friend miss Osborne and go home. You’ve had quite enough fun for tonight!”

Sienna hopped to the ground, brushed Drogo aside, straightened her dress, took the latter’s hand and said grumpily:

“Definitely not! Let’s go, Drogo, someone’s popularity hit him in the head!”

And she pulled the snarling Drogo away while Jones sharply turned and stormed in the opposite direction.

When he was gone, and Sienna found a quiet spot, she firmly took Drogo’s head in her hands, looked him in the eyes, and firmly told him:

“Whatever you intend to do, just don’t go seek a fight with him. I don’t know what he is, but I wouldn’t want to learn it through your fight, guys. And if you kill him, Drogo, god forbid, you will regret it for the rest of your long life. Do you understand me?”

Drogo, shaking from adrenaline, could barely hear her, but he nodded and made a huge effort to clear his head.

Sienna shook him and asked:

“What would help you right now? Drogo?”

The vampire blinked.

“I need to go hunt right now…”

Sienna nodded.

“Good. I will count on you to finish what we started.”

Drogo gave her a long passionate kiss and, before leaving her, murmured:

“You will not regret it.”

Sienna waited until he disappeared in the shadows, arranged her dress and the horned contraption on her head, and went again looking for that blasted drink.

But as soon as she appeared in a crowded place, Sarah popped up next to her and grabbed her by the arm.

“Let’s go! There are too many viewers here!”

Sienna let out a mad loud laugh and exclaimed:

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, sweetie! Let’s go dance!”

And she went swirling and swaying in the direction of the scene. Surprisingly, her awesome dance moves and her sheer contagious joy gained her many followers, and soon she moved at the head of a happy dancing zombie parade.

Sometime later, Sienna slipped from the cheering crowd and trotted in a sweep of the campus grounds. She didn’t know what she was doing, but when she spotted the Aztec god sitting without his headdress on a parapet and peacefully following the raving crowd with his strange eyes, she stopped on the spot.

When she made sure that he spotted her too and did not attempt to do anything brutal, the girl carefully approached him.

Jones was very quiet, so quiet in fact that it scared Sienna.

She came closer still, and his gaze thawed. He gestured for her to sit down next to him, but she remained standing in front of him, unsure where to begin.

He sighed and said peacefully:

“When I bolted earlier, I was so angry that it seemed to me that I could burn this campus to the ground with a mere gaze. I was suffocating with rage… And then an odd thought occurred to me: I just could not be mad at you. I had also sought carnal female attention, like that poor Linda, to douse my desire… It was really like a revelation. Obviously, you get something out of your relationship with Drogo, something that I cannot give you because I’m different, I’m, well, me… And all my anger, it just instantly vanished, evaporated. Poof, like that. I suddenly stopped blaming any of us.”

Sienna came closer to sit next to him and laid her head in the hollow of his neck. He put his hand on her upper arm and continued watching the concert.

After a while, he asked:

“Where’s Drogo?”

“Hunting.”

“I hope not humans?”

“I hope not…”

A new engaging track made both their heads start nodding to the rhythm, like two bobble-head dogs on a car dashboard. Never being able to resist good music, Sienna snatched Sebastian’s blue feathered headdress from the ground where he had tossed it, put it back on his head, and pulled him toward the putzing around folk.

Several of those who previously witnessed the terrible argument stared incredulously at the Aztec god and Queen Mab dancing and laughing at the edge of the crowd. Professor Jones put his student on his shoulders, and this composite figure, domineering over the gathering, gave it an additional holiday cheer flavor. The pair of them inspired people to the last musician standing with their lively improvisations and gigs.


	3. Christmas Ball

CHRISTMAS BALL

The mayor was absolutely enchanted with the young dancer, as were all her other partners.

First, she flitted gracefully in the arms of the eldest Bartoli, a handsome young man with long brown hair. Her daring red dress with whitest miniver shawl on her shoulders, along with her diamond jewelry and red lipstick made absolutely all men in the ballroom crank their necks. The Bartoli was positively enthralled with the young woman, and her eyes were so full of love for him, that people began making suppositions that they were a couple.

Then she danced with the second Bartoli, and, again, she seemed to be absolutely focused on the young man, radiating such joy that the gloomy young man began smiling at her.

When Drogo, in an elegant tuxedo, took her by the waist, there was an undeniable current passing between the two. The third brother murmured to her:

“I will find you the blackest diamond collier and will make you wear it solely to bed.”

Sienna smiled.

“What strange fantasies possess your mind, mister Bartoli!”

Drogo made her swirl, then caught her, and whispered:

“When I look at you, my imagination goes wild!”

The girl smiled.

“Maybe you should start your own jewelry line?”

Drogo’s brows shot up.

“This is actually a very sound idea. That is if you’ll be my muse…”

She let out a melodious soft laugh.

“Oh, why not, why not…”

The mayor invited her to a dance as soon as the previous melody ended.

The young woman dazzlingly smiled at him, and this smile warmed the heart of the old politician.

While dancing and striking a pleasant light conversation, the girl seemed to be focused solely on her dance partner, looking him in the eyes with such fascination and adoration that the mayor began feeling a rush of boyish panache.

“Miss Richards, I admit that you are the ultimate discovery of this season! You shine like a diamond in the starry sky! I was amazed to learn of your humble occupation as an au-pair! Let me rectify this situation and offer you a job at the city administration that would skyrocket your career!”

The young woman gracefully inclined her head.

“That would be indeed a very generous Christmas present, sir! But as you’ve probably already learned, I am a student in archaeology, this is my passion, and I would definitely want to go on expeditions and digs, which would prevent me from being a good public servant.”

The mayor sighed.

“Oh, yes, naturally, you should follow your heart, miss Richards. But may I hope to see you again gracing our events with your presence in the future? You seem to be fond of dancing, and we have many opportunities to show your skill!”

Sienna bowed to him.

“I would be honored, sir.”

The mayor ended the dance in particularly high spirits, and the opening chimes of _Dancing in the Moonlight_ announced the beginning of the pair’s performance.

Jones materialized at her side almost instantly, expertly taking her into a synchronicity ballet, his open and engaging smile making all ladies in the room almost swoon with adoration.

They had no opportunity to speak during their acrobatic dance, but their synchronized performance won the hearts of absolutely all men and women in the room.

“I’ve heard that their performance at the dance contest was great, but I couldn’t even imagine it to be so… magical!” a lady in emerald was saying to her friend in champagne…

“It’s mesmerizing...!”

“What they are doing is physically impossible…!”

When the music ended, the Bartoli brothers possessively encircled the dancers, shielding them from the other admirers, and Nicolas sincerely shook Jones’s hand.

“You’ve surpassed my wildest expectations, to be honest!” he exclaimed animatedly.

Peter enthusiastically nodded and added:

“You’ve reached the perfect balance!”

Drogo grinned and said:

“You did okay, for little things.”

Sienna rolled her eyes and giggled. The rest laughed too.

Then the second part of the ball began where anyone could dance at their leisure.

Sienna grinned and looked at Jones who instantly reacted by assuming a dancing posture. Their lively improvisation made surrounding people clap their hands, but in a few swirls, they split and began engaging people one by one, dancing with them for a few rounds and proceeding to others, snatching them from the crowd.

By the end of the track, presentable politicians and city elite were all engaged in swaying on the dance floor.

The next composition had a dramatic note to it. Jones began waltzing with Sienna, then, with one swift movement, looking her in the eyes, removed her hairpins, and the gold of her hair spilled to her shoulders, as they both lingered motionlessly, looking in each other’s eyes. There were sighs from the crowd. The moment was so sensual that Drogo looked livid with envy. Then the dancers’ movements started to be more expressive, their pantomime put the spectators through a serious emotional roller-coaster, several people gasped when at one point the man threw his partner to the floor, but she rolled and landed with such a mocking haughty expression that their worries instantly dissipated, replaced by an avid interest as to further development of the drama. Sienna began moving toward Drogo, fixing him with an attentive gaze. The latter jerked up his chin as if saying that he was up to any challenge. The girl took him to dance, and he performed a few pirouettes with her, showing off his own extraordinary dexterity as if to be one up on Jones. The trio’s performance turned out to be so charged that, when they stopped, the whole ballroom roared with applause.

After the show, people started pestering them with questions, whether they trained for this dance, for how long, expressed their astonishment when hearing that it was an improvisation, asked if Jones and Sienna had a thing going on, to which Drogo assertively interjected that “this girl is all mine, Dr. Jones just happens to look better on video,” and squeezed Sienna protectively.

The ball became a huge success, contrary to its past, mostly formal, iterations, and people were reluctant to leave, but as soon as a rented limousine drove the Bartolis away, their irresistible nanny and Dr. Jones, the crowd started dissipating.

Sienna was sitting in the middle between Nicolas and Sebastian, positively delighted at all the fun she had had, Drogo and Peter were sitting opposite, all of them grinning.

Drogo’s eyes fixed Jones with an indecipherable expression. The blond vampire indicated the girl with a quick sideward glance and asked the professor with an enigmatic smile playing on his lips:

“Isn’t she something?”

Sebastian looked at the girl and responded with a reserved smile:

“Sienna is very passionate about everything she does.”

But Drogo wasn’t obviously looking to exchange platitudes. He retorted with a veiled challenge:

“You don’t know half of it.”

Nicolas frowned and exclaimed: “Drogo!” in a mildly menacing way.

Sebastian’s stare at the blond vampire was direct and cool.

“Sienna is sitting right here.”

Drogo shifted his gaze to the wary girl and said with a soft grin:

“Of course, she is, our sweet little thing.” Then he addressed her directly: “But do you know, my sweetness, that you are the only human in this company? No? Tsk-tsk-tsk! Your professor hasn’t been very outspoken with you, has he?”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, Sienna prepared to learn some unpleasantness, both other brothers looked interestedly at the black-haired professor.

Drogo savored the pregnant pause, then uttered innocently:

“I believe these species are called shapeshifters. Aren’t they, Dr. Jones? In your case, it’s a jaguar if I’m not mistaken. You change into a 200-pound cat, do you?”

Sienna gaped at her professor.

Sebastian returned her gaze and smiled frigidly.

“Now you know why my eyes glow in the dark.”

Sienna mulled it over, then turned to Drogo, frowning:

“Why have you told this? Any person has a right to keep things to himself!”

The vampire intensely fixed this opponent with an insolent gaze, but still answered her:

“Because you prevented such an epic fight! I’ve never fought a cat of his size! These kitties are fair game, they fight tooth and nail, so to speak!”

Sebastian assessed the vampire and coolly said:

“I’m stronger than an average jaguar. I’m bigger, meaner, faster and I’ve already killed your kind.”

Drogo’s eyes glistened with the thrill of battle.

“Sounds right up my alley!”

Sienna turned to Nicolas and snapped:

“Nicolas, do something! Or you want these two idiots to spoil such a great evening?!”

Nicolas laughed and nodded.

“That’s true, the evening’s been great so far. Guys, knock it off a notch! Don’t forget why you want to fight in the first place. Our queen has spoken, and she says you must stop.”

He demonstratively hugged Sienna and warned them:

“Or those who start a fight will never see her again in their lives.”

Sienna intensely looked at Drogo, sitting across her. Under her gaze, his eyes instantly changed to their normal color. The girl expressively kissed Nicolas and asked, intrigued:

“Queen?”

Nicolas just looked at her enigmatically.

Sebastian evaluated the situation, his eyes sparkled knowingly and his lips stretched into a sly smile. He looked the girl in the eyes and articulated:

“Some predators let their females make choices.”

Nicolas looked at Jones, smiled to him with his eyes, then let his stare drop to Sienna and elaborated:

“He is right, Sienna. That’s how it goes. We would never hurt you, whatever you might think.”

The girl curved her brow. This was totally unexpected.

She had to collect her wits. Four grown men were looking at her expectantly.

She made a full inhale and calmly said to all, looking, in turn, each man in the eyes:

“I am happy to love you all, but, also, I realize that I make you suffer, and I don’t want that. Please tell me, what does outweigh your heart, your feeling for me, or your suffering? If your suffering outweighs, I will step down and stop communicating with you on a… ah… personal level, I may as well altogether disappear from your life, if your suffering is great. If the opposite feeling prevails, we have to develop something of an arrangement, to minimize your discomfort. If you do not wish to see me with others, we will meet somewhere on a neutral ground… I only wish this rivalry to cease.”

Silence fell inside the car. Everyone got lost in thought.

Sebastian was the first to sigh and clear his throat. It was obvious that he had given it a thought prior to this conversation.

“Since you told me to accept your merry bunch of vampires along with you, I decided to become an observer for the time being, until the situation changes, because, frankly, at the time it was too much to accept. But I’ve underestimated your effect on me, and now I find myself in a much more delicate situation than I’ve initially assessed. As reality has shown us, your undead friends might be good for you, but they are definitely not good for me. This being said, I can safely say that relationship with you gives me many more positive moments than bad ones. I would have you regardless of what you do outside my relationship with you.”

Sienna nodded to him with a light smile, visibly content with his response. Then she turned her head to Nicolas.

The eldest brother frowned and began explaining:

“I was definitely happier when our relationship was contained in the Bartoli family. But as Peter wisely remarked once, we cannot keep you in a golden cage, and it is better to give you an opportunity to start a real family… in the hopes that you can bring it to live in our manor. But that’s when the discord started. My younger brothers have trouble accepting an outsider. If it were just for me, I would find Dr. Jones’s presence quite agreeable: we could have interesting conversations and other mutually stimulating occupations. Something tells me that Dr. Jones would be able to accept me as well. But, alas, I am in charge of the Bartoli family and thus am a hostage to its well-being. To summarize all the above mentioned, I’d say that you do not need to make special arrangements for me personally, I will always be happy to see you.”

Sienna gratefully put her hand over his and smiled at him. Then she, dreading what was to come, looked at Drogo. Her gaze finally met his.

The blond vampire was reluctant to say anything at first, then he grumbled:

“Where would I find another little thing cheeky enough to shoot me point blanc and live after that? If I’ll have opportunities to be alone with you, probably I can tolerate others.”

He coldly glared at Sebastian, and then intensely looked at Sienna, as if telling: “everything depends on you.”

Peter looked at others and said gloomily:

“When I screwed up and lost control, I realized that it would be better for me to step down. I will be very pleased if you could find it possible to return to the manor in any company you wish, but I will not get in your way romantically. I will stay your friend, but I will not hold any hope.”

When the round was over, Sienna exhaled and turned to Nicolas.

“Did you deal with the Descendants? Are they still a threat?”

Nicolas smiled at her.

“This piece of news was actually meant to be a Christmas present, but since we are having this discussion now, I am pleased to tell you that the Descendants were driven out of the Mystic Spell. Actually, it was Drogo’s alertness that gave us the necessary lead. If you wish so, you may return to the manor, no more training needed.”

Sienna sighed deeply.

“I’ve missed Lorie so much!” she said sincerely. “But… I will need my weekends outside of the manor.”

And she glanced questioningly at Sebastian. The latter nodded. He actually looked relieved, so were the Bartoli brothers.

***

The Bartoli manor was once again full of girlish yelps and giggles, running, squealing, and the clatter of the falling furniture.

Drogo and Peter tried to catch the girls, but they managed to avoid all the traps and ambushes, barely escaping and laughing out loud.

However, after a sharp turn in a corridor, Lorie bumped right into Nicolas; she was caught and lifted over his head. The eldest brother laughed and put the little girl back on the floor.

He arranged his jacket and explained to Sienna:

“I’m going for a meeting in town with… ah… Dr. Jones. He found something in the archives and wants my opinion on the matter. I’ll be late, so make sure to close the door, all right?”

The girl nodded and opened her mouth to reply, when Drogo dodged out of a side corridor, grabbed Sienna by her waist and smiled sweetly to his brother:

“You may go. Say ‘Hi’ to Dr. Jones for me, I’ll take good care of our nanny in your absence, big bro!”

Sienna winced, looked at Nicolas, and sighed:

“I’ll put all kids to bed on time. I still need to do some homework, so I will not be staying late as well.”

Nicolas slightly frowned, kissed her on the cheek, and left.

Drogo’s grip on Sienna tightened, and the blond vampire whispered in her ear:

“My tongue has been missing your cunt, my little thing…” and he left, leaving the girl trembling from sudden excitement.

“Right,” she said, her heart beating like mad.

Lorie looked at her.

“What are you playing at with my brother? He behaves like a dog!”

Sienna smiled at the girl.

“Let’s go find Peter.”

“You are strange,” commented Lorie.

Sienna peeked into Drogo’s room. It was empty, but as soon as the girl turned to leave, she heard his mocking voice coming from the corridor.

“Ah, the only necessary thing to do is to say the right thing…”

Sienna arched her brow and waited for the owner of the room to show up.

He was standing behind her, grinning carnivorously.

“Needed something, little thing?”

She nodded, a small mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Yep. Your car keys. Where have you put them?”

Drogo’s face went blank.

“Car keys? Whatever for?”

She nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders.

“Shopping. I just remembered that my skirt got ruined by Samantha, she dropped a piece of greasy fish on it. And I wanted to wear it for tomorrow’s classes.”

Drogo’s eyes flashed.

“This story of yours stinks like that herring.”

The girl looked at him with rounded eyes.

“You don’t believe me? You can come with me and check that I will indeed shop for a skirt and not for pants!”

Drogo eyed her suspiciously, then said:

“I’ll indeed go with you. I might find something interesting as well.”

The girl shrugged and stretched out her hand.

“The keys?”

The blond vampire scoffed.

“Right. I’ll drive.”

The shop assistant greeted them enthusiastically.

“Oh, I see you wearing our jacket! Glad you like it!”

Sienna smiled at the assistant and went looking for skirts on the racks.

Drogo moved closely behind her and murmured:

“I remember this store. Why do I sense a trap? Little thing, what are you up to?”

She just ignored him, selected a few skirts, and went into fitting rooms.

After a while, she called on him:

“Could you please come here and help me?”

Drogo found the occupied booth and stepped inside.

She was looking in the mirror with a small smile playing on her lips.

The vampire frowned.

“It is the same booth – the lighting here is slightly flickering…”

The girl said in a quiet sultry voice, fixing him with her gaze in the mirror:

“You came in without knocking and put the jacket on my shoulders…”

With mixed feelings, Drogo uttered, looking at her:

“I said it would fit you well…”

“And then you…”

“…eased your hair from under the collar…” whispered Drogo, stroking her hair, his eyes now having a liquid glow.

Sienna sighed languorously.

“And a few hours later, at the bar, you smudged my lipstick by kissing me.”

Drogo grabbed the girl from behind, squeezed her tightly, and buried his face in the hollow of her neck.

Then his hand demandingly crept along her body, ruffled the hem of her new skirt, and neared her crotch.

There were no panties, everything was wet, and the man moaned softly.

“If you come to campus in this way, there will be no classes for you, Miss Richards…”

His finger sunk into her wet pie and a shudder went through them both.

Sienna turned around, feverishly unbuttoned his pants, took out his beautiful sleeping member, dropped to her knees, and put it to her lips.

Drogo moaned.

“It’s pointless.”

“I know. I just want to.”

After a while, she abandoned her efforts, but Drogo lifted her, kissed her on the lips, and whispered:

“Thank you, my sweetness… Let me get you home and run your favorite bath…”

He was holding her in his arms and kissing her so tenderly that she was literally floating in his tenderness like on a fluffy pink cloud. The water was hot, and his body was giving off odors of frankincense and myrrh, of earth and old leather. She opened her eyes.

“How old are you really?”

He looked at her softly and sighed.

“Does it matter?”

She pondered on it and replied:

“No. But could hot water damage your skin?”

Drogo softly laughed.

“I’m not a mummy, sweetness.”

Sienna caressed his cheek.

“But you smell of ancient embalming spices…”

He caught her hand and kissed it.

“That’s because they started embalming me before I woke up. But no, it was not that long ago. It’s just that my body ended up as a study subject for Egyptology students…”

Sienna looked at him in surprise.

“What a quirk!”

“You don’t say…”


	4. The Woods

THE WOODS

Sarah was incredibly happy to receive Sienna’s invitation for the private digs in the woods, and when she learned that none other than Dr. Jones would be helping them out, she went ecstatic.

The weather was cloudy but there was no rain forecast and it was perfect for conducting digs without any direct sun beating down on them.

First, they used a metal detector, borrowed from the University against Dr. Jones’s signed receipt, and it yielded a fair amount of moderately interesting trinkets, mainly kitchen utensils, allowing them to roughly date the site to give or take 1850-ies. Then they used the map of the buildings as previously traced during the first reconnaissance trip and began reconstructing the particularities of the layout, aiming at establishing the provenance of the blast.

Sarah had eyes wide for everything at the site and was particularly eager to help out Dr. Jones.

He behaved naturally, with his usual professionalism, and guided the students as if they were at their regular classes.

Osborne finally seized an opportunity and asked, addressing no one in particular, the question that had been on her mind since Sienna offered her to tag along:

“How come you got together for this project?”

Without batting an eye, Sebastian responded:

“Ah, it was something spontaneous. We were talking after our training and I remembered one of the locals told me about this site. Miss Richards got curious, I was curious too, so we just drove here to see it for ourselves. Then one thing led to another, as you probably know, Miss Osborne; so, here we are again.”

He told it in such an easy-going manner that if Sienna didn’t know better she would never have guessed that something was wrong with this story. He was looking calmly into her eyes with a fatherly expression.

Sarah seemed to buy it and grinned happily to the man at the mention of her name.

“That’s fascinating!” she exclaimed, clearly putting into her exclamation more than just a surprise.

Sienna chuckled under her breath. Her friend was trying to flirt with the professor.

Sensing the same vibes, Sebastian calmly nodded to Sarah and stepped away, as if to check on the metal detector’s readings.

As flippantly as before, he suddenly told Sienna:

“By the way, Miss Richards, please tell your friend Drogo that if he misses one more of my lectures he will be expelled from my class.”

“ _What brought this on_?” thought the girl, perplexed. But the professor’s next statement gave her a hint:

“Mr. Bartoli _smells_ of failure…”

The smell! But didn’t she wash enough yesterday and that morning? Was it even possible to smell the vampire? She cautiously stole a glance at him, asking herself whether a jaguar shapeshifter was capable of such a feat or if he just used his professional powers of observation.

“Er… yes, sir, I will tell him…” she mumbled warily and went to collect her tools.

The professor turned to both girls with an insouciant grin and announced:

“I hope all of us had fun today. May I offer you both a beer in Hoot’s Hooves to finish the day?”

Both students beamed happily. This had been indeed an awesome day.


	5. My Funny Valentine

MY FUNNY VALENTINE

Sienna felt completely in love, looking into the warm and kind eyes of Sebastian, who was lying next to her in bed. He was looking at her with the same feeling, wholly immersed in her lively gaze.

“You know,” she said softly, “I never cease to amaze at how the simplest things awaken my senses when I’m with you… I am looking at the tiny pulsation in your irises, at a few messy, out of line hairs in your brow, at the way your chest moves with your breathing, and I could watch these things for hours… When you put a cup of tea in front of me, I watch the movement of your long fingers, the shape of each phalanx, each nail, and when you walk or stand, or lie down, it’s a feast for my eyes. I love seeing you in your old sweatpants or any other home clothes, it makes me feel so cozy… I just love watching you live your everyday life…”

Sebastian was moved by her words. He gently stroked her hair and replied:

“You said it beautifully. I feel the same, Sienna. Just seeing you stops any notion of time for me. As if we’ve always been here and always will be. I could live with you indefinitely, and make you tea, and discuss cultural theories, and dance until the end of time. I see the whole world in your precious eyes… I don’t care for anything or anyone else as much as I do for you. To say that I love you is to say nothing. You are the light of my life. My breath.”

She tenderly smiled at him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They tightly hugged, her head on his chest, and lay like this for a while, listening to each other breathe.

The girl sighed.

“I don’t want this weekend to finish.”

Sebastian looked at her sadly and stroked her cheek.

“We’ll see each other tomorrow at my class and later at the dance class.”

“You know it’s not the same.”

He shrugged his massive shoulders.

“It’s not. But you have the key to my house.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You know well that Drogo will be lying in wait at the entrance.”

Sebastian let out a long exhale and rolled back to look at the window. He was slightly vexed but never displayed any irritation relating to the girl.

After a long pause when he was waiting for his frustration to subside, he turned his face to Sienna and asked:

“What is it like for you with him?”

The girl blushed.

“Oh, it’s… Not the same… I can see his wound and I want to soothe it and mend it… And he is so… intense… He can be surprising at times, and I guess this contrast between what he appears outside and his inside is what makes him so… interesting. He is like a delicate, fragile flower made of white-hot razor wire…”

Sebastian shook his head in admiration.

“Wow, what an image! Then… how would you describe me?”

She smiled.

“So far, I’ve only seen half of you… But I cannot describe what I’m seeing now, it’s like looking in the mirror for the first time in one’s life – everything amazes me…”

The man softened and stroked her shoulder.

“Honey tongue,” he kissed her on the temple. “And what about Nicolas?”

She shrugged.

“It’s simple, I admire him for what he is and I feel very much protected around him.”

“More so than with me?”

Sienna put her palm on his cheek, looked him in the eyes, and said:

“You are too precious to me. I don’t want you to come to any danger.”

The man shook his head, protesting, and laughed:

“Hey, I’m not a flower either, I can pull my own weight!”

Sienna kissed him.

“Just don’t do anything stupid trying to prove it! Especially with Drogo. Not because of my connection to him but because this dude is a complete wacko, believe me.”

Sebastian laughed again, lightly and imperturbably.

“Can’t make any promises… So, what about the mayor?”

The girl burst out with laughter.

“Have you gone mad? Why are we even talking about the mayor?”

“Because you enchanted him to the point that he started behaving like a schoolboy…” the man took her hand and slid it under the blanket to his genitals.

Sienna felt a hot, pulsating member and was momentarily distracted.

“Oh, how lovely… Mmmmm I can’t get enough of it…”

She jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom. Sebastian sighed and continued to lie in bed, his hand on his crotch. Warm currents of pleasure were running under his skin.

After a while, she emerged from the bathroom, mockingly playful, and approached the man.

“So, the mayor, you said? Well, it takes a lot of self-punishment to govern a town like this, so, yep, maybe he deserves some soothing!”

Sebastian abruptly bolted upright, sat in bed, caught the girl by the hand, and pulled her toward him, falling back as he did so.

“It’s me who needs some soothing right now!” he growled mockingly, starting to kiss her everywhere.

The girl squealed in laughter and rolled with him together, tumbling.

“Mmmmm, the magic rod…! I love the way it is so long and straight, a wonderful specimen…”

The man laughed.

“Do you want to see a trick?”

She grinned.

“Sure I do!”

Sebastian bared his hips and said, smiling:

“Sienna…”

His penis pulsated, engorging.

The man repeated her name, and his member stood at full attention.

The girl rolled, laughing.

“No way, you’re a cheat!”

He laughed along.

“No, Sienna. That’s your effect on me…”

His penis proved it by pulsating again.

She scoffed.

“So when you talk with someone at the Uni and he or she says ‘Sienna this, Sienna that,’ you have trouble standing straight?”

The man smiled.

“Then I put a hand in the pocket of my trousers.”

The girl squealed with laughter.

“This is gross!”

“This is being me at the mention of your name, Sienna…”

She smiled and stroked his tool.

“Oh, this is so endearing!” she purred and settled to give it her undivided attention.

Sebastian pulled at her butt, positioned her against his face, and pulled down her panties.

“Mmmm, what a view! I could do it for hours!” he murmured, licking her pussy and anus.

“We just love each other’s genitals, don’t we?” giggled Sienna, interrupting herself.

“Yes, we do…” the man murmured, sliding his fingers inside her.

“I want you in my butt…” she suddenly whispered, passionately sucking at his tool and moving her hips.

The man stroked her butt-cheeks and said tenderly:

“No, you don’t. I’m too big for you… but we could start small…” he licked his finger and pushed it into her anus.

The girl whimpered.

“More…! Sebastian, I want you everywhere!”

They were taking a shower and giggling.

Sienna said, laughing:

“This is insane, all I think about these days is spending time with you! I even had thoughts about quitting the Bartolis and go bust tables at some café…”

The man’s face illuminated with feeling, and he said softly:

“When I see you in my classes, all I can think of is coming back home to see you meeting me there… And each time, I have to remind myself that you still need to graduate, to have a career…”

The girl playfully arched her brow.

“And how living with you can change that?”

He sighed and stroked her back.

“Well… for one, I’m very… fertile, and unless you plan on having a bunch of kids any time soon, you shouldn’t consider moving here. No amount of pills or rubber would’ve gotten in the way if I didn’t master a few Tantric techniques… Our first time was especially… trying… So, if you come to live here, the chances of me slipping out of control increase tenfold. I just wouldn’t want to be the cause of any tough decisions that you should make…”

The girl giggled, unperturbed.

“So, your superpower is fertility?”

He sighed.

“Something like that…”

“Probably that’s what makes you so incredibly attractive. You’re like a god of sex with a super-charisma… and that’s why you act like a magnet to all the girls…! I’m just one of those suckers!”

Sienna wrapped one arm around the man’s neck and stroked his pectoral and shoulder with her other hand. Her gaze became inquiring.

Sebastian laughed.

“All right, I’ll ask. What’s on your mind?”

The girl cast him a sideward glance.

“Speaking of your superpowers… I was wondering, hypothetically, what would be those kids? Cubs? Would they be… cubs?”

The man’s face changed color a few times before he answered:

“That’s a random gene…”

The girl grinned and tenderly kissed the tense man on the corner of the mouth.

“Cute dappled babies… so funny…”

In spite of his un-ease, Jones smiled.

“Yeah…”

Sienna continued, grinning mischievously:

“If so, how come a cat likes water so much? You’re tidy, I get it, that’s natural, considering. But water?”

Sebastian wrinkled his nose.

“We swim well, and you did not do much research on the species, Miss Richards.”

The girl frowned.

“But I never even saw you! If not for Drogo, I’d still be clueless!”

The man cast her a mocking gaze.

“So, you’re pissed off that I didn’t tell you?”

She sighed.

“Well. Yes.”

He smiled and switched off the water.

“Truth be told, I had no intention of discussing it with you for the time being because I did not intend to impose it on you; also, it has no bearing on who I am and would provoke unnecessary hype. Like now.”

He wrapped her in a towel and took another one for himself.

“So, I don’t get to see the kitty?” pouted Sienna, acting childishly.

Sebastian vigorously shook his wet head and let droplets of water fly everywhere.

“Not at home, not without a bait, or you’ll be eaten in the first seconds of your encounter. And it’s the last time you called me ‘kitty’!”

The girl curved her brow.

“Or what?”

Sebastian stood close to her in a mockingly threatening manner and lifted her face by the chin.

“Or I’ll make you regret it…”

The girl beamed and clasped her hands in a pleading gesture:

“Please-please-please tell me more!!!”

Sebastian, visibly displeased with her excitement, nevertheless replied, exiting the shower:

“It’s a wild animal. Same 6.3’ and 220 lbs. but none of my humane side. In order to more or less safely interact with it, one should feed it first. When I decide to transform, I buy a goat and tie it to a pole in the woods. Otherwise, no one is safe. About 10-12 hours need to pass before I can turn back into the human form, or my stomach will rupture.”

Sienna, eyes open wide, asked:

“Does the full moon affect you?”

The man negatively shook his head.

“I’m not a werewolf, it’s not a disease, it’s my nature. I transform when I deem it necessary or want to.”

The girl followed him out of the shower.

“Do you do it often?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“In a town full of students? Too irresponsible.”

“And does your family know? Your mother, your brother? Are they jaguars too?”

Jones sighed impatiently.

“Mom doesn’t know, brother probably doesn’t either, they are regular humans.”

“And how did you get along with your dog?”

He wrinkled his nose.

“We did well… Anything else, Miss Inquisitor?”

The girl looked at him attentively.

“I realize that I’m prying into something you are reluctant to tell me. But maybe, since I’m exposed to your feud with Drogo, I ought to know at least something about that side of you?”

Sebastian winced.

“I wasn’t ready to breach this subject now… Although I was planning to have a good hunt in Peru… Thing is, when I’m… in another form, I am reluctant to return back to the human form, and it can bring problems in the expedition…”

“Then will you take me with you to Peru?” her gaze was now playful. “I will help you remember why professor Jones needs his human form.”

Sebastian laughed.

“Oh, right, did you rehearse that?”

“Is it a problem?”

“It really depends on your score and I’m not the one to set it. You’d better sing a love song to Brian.”

Sienna laughed and hugged the man.

“That’s a low blow.”

Sebastian kissed her on the forehead.

“Just don’t make me kiss you in public, and your score will be fine.”

Sienna looked at him with curiosity.

“Could you?”

“Yes, but that would mean the end to your Peru trip.”

“Mmmmm, Peru…” she whispered languorously and dug her fingers into his wet hair.

He smiled and arched his brow.

“Could you wait until we join the high-mile club?”

“Absolutely not…”


	6. Innocent Beast

INNOCENT BEAST

The students were buzzing in front of the lecture hall.

Sienna and Sarah arrived at the door and saw a paper pinned to it, announcing the cancellation of the Myths and Legends classes until further notice.

The friends were flabbergasted.

“What’s happening?” frowned Sienna.

The ever-present Samantha said something acidic to her, which she did not even register. Sarah pulled her friend out of the crowd, and Sienna stirred.

“I’ll call him!”

Sarah did not even have the time to dissuade her when the girl dialed the man’s number.

The voicemail switched on, and Sienna left a message: “Hello, sir, this is your student Sienna Richards calling. Our class has gathered here for your lecture, but there is no explanation as to why your lecture is canceled. Please call me back when you can…”

Still worried, she looked into her friend’s eyes and exclaimed:

“It’s totally unlike him! He is so punctual that one could set the Greenwich chronograph after him!”

Sarah tried to hug her friend, but the latter avoided her touch and rummaged through her bag. Something clinked in it.

“I’ll go to his house check on him…”

Sarah saw a set of keys and widened her eyes.

“You’ve got KEYS to his house? Dear, what do I have yet to learn?”

Sienna frowned at her friend and opened her mouth to answer, but someone took her by the elbow from behind and dragged her into a side corridor.

“Peter! What on earth!” yelled Sarah, hurrying after them.

Peter frowned at Osborne but deemed it less important than to speak to his protégée.

“You will not find him at his house. In fact, neither will you find Nicolas. As of this morning, something happened, and we all have to figure out what went wrong.”

Sienna went pale.

“Oh no-no-no-no…! My dear man…! What’s happening?!”

Seeing her friend in shock, Sarah made an effort to suppress her animosity toward the Bartolis and asked:

“May I be of any assistance to you?”

Peter hesitated, then nodded.

“Let’s go to the parking, Drogo is waiting for us there.”

All three, they hurried to the exit from the building and reached the parking almost at a run.

Upon seeing the blond vampire, Sienna stirred.

“Drogo!”

Drogo hugged her tightly, and it gave her a boost of confidence. She said:

“All right. All cards on deck. Tell me what you know.”

Peter paused.

“Actually, we try to figure out what was the point of their meeting in the archives last week. Do you remember Nicolas telling you anything? Or Dr. Jones?”

Sienna bit her lip nervously. Then she shook her head in exasperation.

“I cannot remember!”

Drogo took her by the shoulders and made her look him in the eyes.

“Breathe deeply, little thing. Do you trust me?”

The girl nodded and obediently started to laboriously exhale.

Drogo observed her taking control of her emotions and asked in a few minutes:

“Why would they meet in archives? Do you have any idea? Why would Jones go there? Why would he need Nicolas’s assistance?”

Sienna sighed deeply and waved her hand.

“It’s pure conjecture, but the only connection that comes to mind is the Descendants…” she looked at Sarah, and the latter nodded vigorously.

“Yes, the only time we talked about the city archives was in connection with the Descendants that Loan had mentioned a while back…”

Both brothers shook their heads.

“There are no more Descendants in this town…! Unless…” Peter looked at his brother, frowning. “What could they have discovered there? A few family names? A manifest?”

Sienna helplessly lifted her shoulders.

“It may be anything… I refused to go there at the time…”

Sarah Osborne frowned.

“We didn’t think of it too much then. Might as well go now!”

The lethargic archivist remembered indeed both men and even provided the students with a reference to the specific section, but the box in question was now empty, swept clean, and the archivist could not say anything in particular as to other possible visitors to the section.

Peter politely inquired into the possibility to peek at the logbook, and soon, they were poring over the list of unfamiliar names logged in on the same day as Dr. Jones and Mr. Bartoli.

Sarah copied it and used one of the computers to look up the names.

Drogo sighed impatiently.

“It’s just a load of clerks, what are you hoping to find, Osborne?”

But the girl persisted as if trying to clear her own name and prove herself useful.

Sienna was sitting next to her and scanning the names as well, keeping calm only because Drogo was firmly holding her by the shoulders.

Suddenly, she exclaimed:

“There! I believe this name is familiar! I cannot remember from where, but I’ve met it before…”

They looked up the name, and a familiar face popped up on the screen. It was the mayor’s assistant.

Sienna looked at her friends.

“Now I remember, it was on a business card that the mayor gave me. He said I could contact his office if I ever wished to get a job there…”

Peter shook his head. “It makes sense. If the assistant learned of our guys’ interest in this particular section, he could wipe it clean afterwards… So, if you suddenly show up in the mayor’s office, and they are indeed involved, it will look very suspicious. We must find another way…”

Sienna made a long exhale, trying to collect her wits and said:

“We have to split. Sarah, I appreciate your involvement, but if you feel like quitting, this is the right time to do it…”

Sarah vigorously shook her head and exclaimed:

“Definitely not! I might not be as eager to help Bartolis, but I’m helping you and our dear professor. So, yeah, I’m ready to help you, guys!”

Drogo ironically curved his brow, Peter looked mildly surprised, but they were appreciative enough not to refuse the girl’s help.

Sienna continued:

“Then Peter and Sarah will try to track down the assistant, and Drogo and me, we are going to stalk the mayor. He likes his routines, and we have a good chance of finding him dining at his usual favorite restaurant. Let’s see what we can catch. Later at night, we could meet again to reconnoiter further…”

As agreed, Sienna and Drogo made a buoyant appearance at La Serenata, one of the best-known local restaurants.

Drogo acted like a typical rich brat waiting for his favorite night club to open, and Sienna, dressed like a prima donna in a beautiful golden silk dress with sapphires adorning her neck and earlobes, was giggly and capricious. They looked to be in good mood, ordered a bottle of champagne, and paid absolutely no attention to the mayor and his retinue as if too absorbed in each other’s company.

After a while, well into their performance, Sienna acted as if she noticed the mayor only a moment ago. She made an effort to sober up and went to the latter’s table to say “hello”.

“Oh, sir, this is such an honor to see you again!” she uttered melodically and beamed at the mayor. “Do you remember me? We danced with you at the Christmas ball! I’m Sienna Richards!”

The mayor, at first surprised, brightened up.

“Ah, miss Richards! How could I ever forget your performance! You danced like a goddess!” he even lifted his butt from the chair and took Sienna’s hand in a kissing gesture. Sienna noted that he did not mention her dance partner, but the motive for such an omission was unclear at the time. “Have you changed your mind about making a career at our esteemed city hall?”

“Mister Mayor, I don’t think I deserve such a high status right away! I’m still a mere student at the Mystery Spell university!”

They continued chatting for a while, the mayor having offered her a chair next to him.

Then Drogo showed up, displaying his annoyance at being abandoned. He was offered another chair, and the mayor, being a hardcore politician, smooth-talked them into accepting an invitation to his home “for a night cup and a cigar” before they would go on to their nightclub.

“In an hour, I will be free of my other duties and expect you both at my humble abode!” the mayor exclaimed in a peremptory tone.

As they were exiting the restaurant, Drogo quietly whispered to Sienna:

“Be careful. If hunters become too careless with their prey, they could become prey too. This inoffensive little man might be up to something…”

Sienna nodded and kissed him on the mouth to cover their conversation.

The mayor smiled at them benevolently.

“Ah, young love!”

Still, no mention of Jones, as if he did not exist.

Sienna smiled brightly.

“Oh, sir, your town seems to bring me nothing but good luck!”

When they returned to their car and climbed inside, Sienna told Drogo:

“At the entrance to the mayor’s house, look as if you’re on the phone with someone, then excuse yourself and leave… No buts, Drogo. The mayor could feel more relaxed if I’m alone. Also, if it’s a trap, I’ll need you outside more than inside it. Do you understand?”

She called Sarah and explained the situation to her. Sarah, in turn, told her that Peter and she were still observing the comings and goings of the assistant, but to no avail so far. They agreed to be on standby, and Drogo grudgingly conceded that it would be a good idea for him to find a high observation point giving on the mayor’s house.

“Meet you at the club, sweetie,” Drogo kissed Sienna goodbye and returned to his car.

The mayor, standing on his porch in the same suit he had been wearing to the restaurant, followed him with his patronizing gaze and chuckled:

“He sure loves you, Miss Richards. He is a lucky man to have won your affection! High time someone tamed this wild spirit!”

Sienna charmingly smiled and feigned surprise.

“You know Drogo?”

The old man chuckled again.

“By reputation, Miss Richards, by reputation. The Bartolis are an old family, but until recently, the youngsters lived far away from their nest, and we here, in Mystic Spell, were really happy that one of the founding families returned home. It’s like a piece of our history got restored to us, so it’s only natural that we are trying to watch out for them…”

Sienna ironically curved her brow, stepping inside the house.

“And by “we” you are referring to…?”

The mayor smiled and looked her in the eyes.

“We, the concerned citizens,” he gestured for her to follow him.

The girl smiled in return, moving along.

“Of course.”

The old man gazed at her appraisingly and said:

“You are a newcomer, Miss Richards, and our close-knit community may appear strange to you. But in a small town like Mystic Spell, we try to take care of ours… and to welcome talented newcomers, encouraging them to stay.”

The mayor’s gaze was allusive, and Sienna made sure her face did not display any emotion.

The old man made a wide gesture and suggested:

“Since your friend mister Drogo could not join us, may I suggest to you a cup of tea or something stronger, miss Richards? I realize, of course, that you have other plans for the evening, but I will not delay you too much, please allow an old man to enjoy your ravishing company for a little longer!”

Sienna smiled politely and nodded.

“I’ve heard legends about your garden, sir, and I will be delighted to see it with my own eyes.”

The mayor inclined his head and ushered the girl through wide French windows into the green garden full of flowers and decorative shrubs.

“Ah, how lovely!” exclaimed Sienna genuinely. She was enchanted by the landscape, and when the mayor offered her a cup of fragrant tea, she found it only natural to take a sip of it.

“It smells divine! What is this tea?” she asked, well pleased with the aroma.

Suddenly, the mayor seemed much more relaxed and smiled broadly at the girl.

“Glad you liked it! This is a very special blend, a recipe held down to us by our ancestors. They say that only the pure of heart find this tea to their taste…”

Sienna smiled foxily.

“So, was it some kind of test? Did I pass?”

The mayor’s eyes glinted. He laughed heartily.

“Don’t judge the old man’s tales too harshly! I thought that as a history student you’ll find this story of some interest.”

The girl smiled.

“Indeed, I did. I find all stories fascinating, and small towns like these are of special interest to me. They are the heart of the country, so to speak.”

They continued on, discussing old stories, and Sienna started to grow restless – the mayor was a seasoned poker player, and she could not find any breach in his well-built image of a good old man. The only obvious fact was that he grew much more at ease around her since she appreciated the tea, but, on the other hand, he was keeping his cards close all the same.

The girl was ready to leave, when, unexpectedly, she saw a familiar tall frame with the long brown mane in the window of the first floor.

“Nicolas?” she stirred.

For a second, the mayor looked almost angry, but his facial expression changed so quickly that someone less observant than Sienna might have thought that she was mistaken.

“Ah, yes, we had arranged a meeting with Mr. Bartoli to discuss a few family stories as well, but I was slightly distracted by your charming presence, miss Richards…”

Appearing completely unperturbed, Sienna smiled:

“Oh, that’s fortunate, because I wanted to see him before nine p.m. for a financial matter. I’d like to go see him now, mister mayor, and then I’ll leave you both to take care of your business.”

The mayor was so reluctant to take her to the first floor that he actually almost grabbed her by the hand, but Sienna elegantly “missed” his grip and strode toward the staircase.

When Nicolas saw her, he seemed to be in shock but very quickly frowned to cover his surprise.

“Sienna! What in god’s name are you doing here?!” he seemed angry and deeply perturbed. But the mayor’s head popped up at the staircase as the old man was hurrying after the girl, and Nicolas’s voice softened. “I must admit that I’m very much surprised to see you here!”

The mayor had a plastic grin glued to his face when he joined them near the window.

“This bright young woman will soon have all the best doors of this town open wide for her!” he huffed, laughing artificially.

Nicolas smiled, warmly looking at Sienna.

“Indeed, she will.”

The girl turned to the mayor, smiling innocently.

“May I whisk away your guest for a couple of minutes, sir?”

The mayor reluctantly nodded.

“Of course, dear Miss Richards, of course! If you will excuse me, I’ll go prepare the documents that we need to discuss with Mr. Bartoli. See you soon, Miss Richards, Mr. Bartoli…” he bowed to them and disappeared into one of the side rooms.

Nicolas’s gaze instantly grew blazing with anger. He put a finger to his lips and stared at the girl, visibly annoyed.

Sienna gave him an even look and said calmly:

“It is fortunate that I met you here because I was wondering if you could allow me to dip into my future salary. I need to pay for an additional fitness class. Dr. Jones will be very disappointed if I fail to prepare for the expedition. He had mentioned that even if he would not be involved in grading, I was still at the top of the list of those having a chance to go on the Peru expedition. And I wouldn’t want to miss this chance! I assume that he’s already preparing our trip, he even skipped our lecture today, so I guess it must be very important!”

Nicolas’s face darkened.

“Ah, and there I was looking for him this afternoon to discuss a few things… All right, let’s go home while there is still time, and I will settle your fitness class bill.”

Sienna beamed.

“Great! By the way, Drogo and I will come back late tonight, as there is a stunning performance…”

“Spare me!” Nicolas impatiently waved his hand, and they hurried to look for mayor.

The old man was in his office, shuffling some papers. He eagerly lifted his head upon hearing his guests enter.

Nicolas did not give him time to open his mouth and said in a mellow apologetic voice:

“Mr. Mayor, I must regretfully beg your forgiveness for leaving you so soon. I’m sure we will find some other time for our history discussion, but, unfortunately, now, I must escort my employee back to the manor to settle a financial affair.”

Sienna added brightly:

“It was such an honor to meet you, Mr. Mayor! Thank you very much for your hospitality!”

They both bowed to the man and went on complimenting him all the way to the front entrance to the house.

Once in the street, Nicolas ushered Sienna to his parked car and peeled away.

“What were you thinking, going in there as you did?” he exclaimed angrily.

Sienna frowned.

“This is not the reaction I was hoping for!”

Nicolas winced and said in a more controlled voice:

“Of course, you were not aware of anything… and I really appreciate how you’ve found an excuse to whisk me away from there, but still… it was very reckless!”

Sienna rolled her eyes.

“You and your countless secrets! I acted upon the information I had! First, Sebastian did not show up to conduct his lecture, which is like having snow in summer; then Peter comes running and says that neither Sebastian nor you can be found. So, all of us together, we went to the archive, and then figured that the mayor’s assistant might be up to something. I’ve arranged a “coincidental” meeting with the mayor, and there you were as if nothing had happened! So, I figure, Sebastian is also fine and is just busy somewhere?”

Nicolas shook his head, preoccupied.

“All right. I think you deserve some answers. This morning, I received a strange voice message from Dr. Jones, where there was only breathing. I went to his house, then to the University, I spoke with his colleagues, but found nothing. I went to your training dig site and to the old blown up house in the woods, I theorized that he might be somewhere out of town and just accidentally pushed the phone, but in that model, there is no way it could be sent automatically. So, I arranged a meeting with the mayor at his house to try getting some information on Dr. Jones’ whereabouts, given that your dear professor got pretty high on the local social totem pole… keep calm and let me finish. I first started to suspect the mayor when he offered me some vile tea. Naturally, I had to drink it and compliment the aroma. The mayor seemed to calm down a bit but still kept his mouth shut. I was becoming the prisoner of the situation because the mayor had offered me a late dinner in a no-refusal manner when you came and relieved me from it. It would be a dreadful prospect and maybe another test, as you may gather… But it doesn’t get us closer to Dr. Jones.”

Sienna sighed and dialed Peter. She explained to him the situation and then let him speak to Nicolas. From their conversation, she gathered that the Bartolis suspected the mayor and his assistant to be the masterminds behind the Descendants' revival and believed that Dr. Jones’ disappearance could be connected to their activity.

Nicolas sighed.

“The only thing we can safely assume is that if he is kept somewhere within the town limits, there will be some anti-supernatural traps…”

And the brothers began enumerating the possible indicators, but a girlish voice chimed in, and Sarah offered a way to learn about the location.

Soon, a plan emerged, and Sienna realized that she had been controlling her breath all this time.

When she heard that all three brothers and her best friend would be looking for her professor, she finally put her hands to her face and started crying.

Nicolas hugged her, keeping one hand on the wheel and whispered to her soothingly:

“It’s good for you to cry now. Get it out of your system, we might have a use for your Glocks before this night is over.”

The girl nodded.

“I’ll make a tea strainer out of the mayor’s skull if he hurts him!” she could not bring herself to say Sebastian’s name, but Nicolas understood.

“We’ll be more thorough this time, as there are too many conspirators for such a small town!”

Sienna sighed.

“Couldn’t you just hypnotize the mayor into telling you everything?”

The eldest Bartoli brother shook his head.

“Judging by the use of herbs, he would be taking measures to counteract my hypnotism. When we know for sure who we are up against, we will… make them susceptible to our… persuasion skills, that’s what I can promise to you.”

Sienna sighed and asked after a pause:

“Did you… did you ever use your skill on me?”

Nicolas cast her a long, direct gaze and said firmly:

“No, Sienna. Never. Neither did my brothers. Drogo even said that he didn’t need a puppet and that it would spoil all the… ah… fun for him. And now, I’m barely recognizing him, for his determination to find Dr. Jones is unusual, to say the least. So, Sienna, rest assured, we’ll put every effort in clearing this situation.”

The girl nodded.

“I trust you, Nicolas.”

The search seemed to never end. The evening stretched into the night, then into the day, then again… First, the Bartoli brothers spread out across the town to get sensory information on the districts. Then they all reported to Sienna and Sarah, both posted at the manor, and Sarah gave her feedback on their readings. With all this bustle, Sienna felt useless and restless, so, at about three in the morning, she grabbed her phone and her Glocks and went to the neighboring forest to clear her head.

The forest was immense, but by now, she knew all the landmarks and could navigate it quite confidently.

Lost in her thoughts, she wandered into the communal part of the woods and entered a clearing with an old barn in the middle. She knew of it from the locals. They maintained that the barn was haunted but those countless times that Sienna visited it, there was absolutely nothing to write home about.

However, this time, she had a fleeting impression that she had spotted some movement near it. Being one of those people ranting about the stupidity of characters in horror movies, she quickly switched her phone to the silent mode and texted the whole crew. Now, waiting for reinforcements, she found a good observation spot and made herself comfortable behind a fallen tree.

The long observation confirmed her initial impression. There was someone at the barn.

The temptation to get closer was strong, but she resisted it, and soon, she was rewarded for her patience: a man exited the barn and stood to pee just a few steps away from the entrance.

Sienna tried to discern other sounds over the sound of pouring piss but her hearing was obviously far worse than that of a vampire…

“I knew you had a kinky voyeur side about you, little thing,” said Drogo’s ironic voice behind her. The blond vampire smiled and slid next to her into her hiding nest.

Sienna squeezed his hand and whispered:

“Can you hear anything else there?”

Drogo frowned and concentrated. After a long pause he looked at the girl and carefully articulated:

“There are two more hearts and… moaning… not human… a very low reverberating sound, at first I’ve mistaken it for a motor rumble…”

Sienna caught her breath.

“Do you think…”

Drogo shook his head.

“I don’t know, little thing. We’ll have to check it out.”

“Do we have to wait for Nicolas and Peter?”

Drogo winced.

“They must be here soon enough.”

Sienna nodded.

“Then back me up, or I’ll go nuts if I stay without doing anything for any longer.”

Drogo shook his head.

“Out of the question! I stand a far better chance!”

Sienna grabbed him by the collar.

“Listen, if they are who we think they are, they will be equipped against supernatural folk. But they will not be ready for a human. Let me go, and back me up!”

Drogo scratched his head. The girl’s argument seemed sound enough.

“Sienna may be right,” intervened Nicolas, crawling up next to them. He nodded to the girl and said gravely: “Go, we’ll be right behind you.”

Sienna grinned, winked to Drogo, removed her guns from their holsters, hid them behind her back, and rose to stroll leisurely into the clearing. The moon was shining so brightly that she had the impression of having a walk under a bright lamplight.

She pushed open the door to the barn and stepped inside.

She saw a solid tourist lamp, two dudes playing cards on a batch of straw, and a large steel cage with something big, dark and dappled in it. The thing in the cage was letting out low painful groans with each breath.

Upon seeing the girl, the guys jumped up and squirted some stinky silvery liquid at her. She managed to avoid it but found the scent unmistakable.

“Wow, dudes! That’s how you meet your neighbors! This garlic stinks!” unceremoniously, she pointed her pistols at them and added: “Well, since you did not have the courtesy of a proper introduction, I’ll be also brief: Hands up!”

Naturally, the two big guys hesitated, for the svelte girl did not impress them much, even with her pistols.

So, she just dispassionately shot both men in the thighs and observed them clutching at their legs and yelling in pain. After practicing on the Bartolis, shooting other human-shaped moving targets proved to be disturbingly easy. She sighed.

“Someday, I should write a paper on the importance of good manners. You might still be healthy if you’d just allowed me to politely inquire about your late-night activities here in the middle of the woods.”

She turned to see both vampires grimacing at the stench of garlic.

“Will you be able to handle them, guys?” she asked her buddies and walked a wide semi-circle around the howling guards to approach the cage.

It stank disgustingly of bile, excrement, animal musky odor, and ferrous blood. The sight was as much appalling.

A large, dark felid head was hanging between the beast’s front paws, its powerful muscled paws being nailed all the way through to the solid board floor of the cage. The animal was softly whimpering with its every breath, its wide chest and sides rumbling heavily, its coat smeared in blood and feces, its guts visible through a gash wound in its side. Its murky eyes were half-open, and it was just staying conscious all through the agony.

Sienna stood there, thunder-stricken, and was unable even to utter a single sound.

Then a half-gasp, half-yelp escaped her, and she turned to the guards lying helplessly on the floor. If not for the lightning-quick Drogo’s reaction, she would have poured her whole clips into the guys. But Drogo managed to catch her arms and direct them upward. A few shots cracked, leaving the acrid gunpowder smoke floating in the air.

Sienna pushed Drogo aside with inhuman strength and jumped toward the guards. She pointed her pistols into the face of one of them and roared at him, her voice hoarse with fury:

“The – key – to the – cage!”

Fully aware of the situation and horrified by the rage burning in the girl’s eyes, the guy handed her the key without any ado.

Sienna rushed to the cage. Nicolas tried in vain to stop her:

“Stop, don’t do it! A dying animal like this one is deadly dangerous!”

Sienna cast him a cursive glance and ordered:

“You’d better be calling a veterinarian right now!”

And she opened the cage.

The beast inside did not even stir.

Sienna bit her lip with such force that blood trickled down her chin. She made an effort to swallow and gently touched the felid’s head. The animal did not react.

“Drogo, help get those nails out!”

But the blond vampire tenderly touched her shoulders and whispered:

“It will accentuate the blood flow, and he cannot afford to lose any more blood. Also, they keep him from falling and having the blood pour inside his belly…”

Sienna shuddered.

“Don’t say ‘him’! Please… or I’ll lose my mind… Call Sarah, maybe she can stabilize it!”

Drogo nodded and took the phone from Sienna’s pocket, while Nicolas made himself busy studying the guards.

Sienna took the cat’s huge head into her arms, began gently stroking it, and whispering soothing words into its ear. The jaguar roared once, feebly trying to shake her hands off, then went silent and let the full weight of his head fall onto girl’s arms.

She cried in distress, and Nicolas darted inside the cage to check on her. Then he took a look at the wounded animal and put his hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Stay with him, but do not caress him. No tender words. If he lets himself get lulled, he is a goner. Understood?”

Sienna raggedly sighed and bit her lip again.

Drogo returned her phone into the girl’s pocket and said:

“Peter will bring Sarah in five to ten minutes. The veterinarian is on his way.”

Nicolas looked at the guards and told Drogo:

“I’ll interrogate them and make them forget as soon as all garlic that they’ve eaten clears away from their systems. It’s ten hours tops. So, by noon they will become manageable. We need to figure out what to do with them until then…”

The blond vampire coolly shrugged his shoulders.

“I say we dump them into the old well and forget about them.”

Nicolas shook his head.

“The well idea is a sound one. Not the part about forgetting, though. All right, I’ll go take care of them…”

He rose, heaved both tied guards onto his shoulders as if they were mere sausages, and took off out of the barn.

Drogo sat behind Sienna, watching her, his eyes full of pain and sadness.

Sienna was in a stupor. The only thing that mattered to her now was the animal’s breathing, and she did not even seem to mind the lead weight of its head.

These were the longest ten minutes of her life. Each minute was killing her slowly, and the girl was feeling excruciating pain in her own chest at each moan of the animal.

Finally, hurried steps rang outside, the door creaked, and Peter, holding Sarah in his arms, rushed in. The newcomers instantly took the scope of the sight, Sarah gasped and ran to her friend.

“Oh, my goodness!” she whispered clasping her mouth with her hand.

But as soon as the first wave of nausea passed, Sarah approached the scene closer, stretched her hands over the gaping wound in the animal’s side, and began muttering incantations...

The veterinarian looked into the intelligent yellow eyes of the big cat, patted it on the head, and murmured tenderly: “Such a nice tame buddy! Poor guy!”

Then he put away all his instruments and turned to exhausted Sienna.

“You called me right on time! Your kitty was lucky to have made it through the night! This blood transfusion will help him feel better soon, so you should step out of the cage, miss… A wonderful specimen! Judging by the wound in his side, the poachers wanted to bleed him to death and sell his head intact to a taxonomist… Is he yours, miss?”

Sienna nodded, blushing, and feeling her surroundings becoming unreal.

“Yes, he is mine.”

The veterinarian seemed oblivious to her state and took out a notebook and a pen.

“Then I will write instructions to you… and the bill. You don’t have to settle it right now…”

Drogo took the paper out of the man’s hand and grumbled:

“I’ll settle it, your job is to make sure our jaguar stays alive.”

When the veterinarian finally left, Peter and Drogo agreed on transporting the animal to the manor. Both girls were so tired that when Nicolas returned for them, they were both sleeping right on the straw-covered floor.

When Sienna finally opened her eyes, she found herself on the ground floor of the manor lying on the sofa in the living room, her legs wrapped in a warm plaid. A huge dark-brown jaguar was sitting not far from her in a very cat-like pose, drinking water with funny backward motions of its tongue. Its front paws and midriff were tightly bandaged. Its coat was now clean, and beautiful red-and-black patterns could be seen on it.

Drogo rose from his chair next to the door and went to Sienna.

“I was thinking of making him wear a pet cone to prevent him from licking himself and I was dying to take a selfie with him, but then he seemed reasonable enough not to tear off his bandages, so, I had to abandon the idea.”

He took a seat at the girl’s feet, caressed her shins and asked her:

“So, how are you feeling?”

She sighed.

“I’m okay. Where’s Sarah?”

Drogo winced.

“She took off home… She seems almost decent for an Osborne…”

Sienna smiled.

“Oh, now, coming from you, that’s an amazing compliment! I’ll be sure to tell her!”

Drogo screwed up his face.

“Don’t you dare!”

Sienna got up and sat beside him.

“Thank you for all the help, Drogo! And for putting me in the same room with a jaguar!”

She laughed, and the blond vampire chuckled contentedly:

“You’ll have to thoroughly thank me later, little thing!”

“Sure, I will,” she said, kissed him on the lips and got up to face the huge felid.

It behaved like a regular animal, its eyes met hers only for a brief moment, then the cat crawled back onto a big mattress arranged for it on the floor. It closed its eyes and lay quietly on its good side, its front paws stretched in front of it. When the girl carefully approached it, she heard a low rumble that served this huge cat as purring.

Sienna smiled in fascination and inched closer.

The animal mesmerized her. Its sheer raw power enchanted the girl and made her want to touch it.

Drogo warned her:

“Sienna, don’t do anything stupid! It’s a wild animal, after all!”

The girl frowned and mumbled:

“What do you know!”

The jaguar half-opened one eye to look at the girl but did not do anything, continuing to purr.

She whispered:

“You are so beautiful! Yes, you are! I’m so happy that you are alive!”

Drogo scoffed from across the room.

“Yeah, beauty and brains don’t get well together!”

Sienna instantly retorted:

“Such self-critique!”

Sienna passed the next hour, happily pressing her cheek to the jaguar’s ribcage and listening to it rumble like an aeronautic motor.

In the afternoon, the veterinarian dropped by, checked the felid’s vitals and, very content, explained the further course of actions and left, giving way to Sarah, who sheepishly entered the room, escorted by Peter.

“Wow…! An amazing beast…!” she did not dare approach it, but nevertheless went pink from excitement. “How it’s doing?”

Sienna smiled, hugged the beast’s head, and kissed it on the wide forehead.

“Much better. If you would give him another séance of your magic, he’d be better still…”

Sarah laughed.

“All right, I will… But isn’t it dangerous to cuddle with it like you do?”

Drogo peeked from behind Sarah and agreed:

“That’s what I’ve been telling her too!”

Sienna did not deign them with an answer, and Sarah switched the subject:

“So, aren’t we looking for Dr. Jones anymore? My friends told me that he’d missed today’s lectures as well…”

Peter and Drogo exchanged glances behind her, and Peter answered:

“Today, I was at the dean’s office, and he told me that Dr. Jones had been invited as an expert for a Mesoamerican exhibition at the county museum, and he’ll be back in a week or so. We have to remember that he is a star in his field…”

“Apparently, he is a star in many fields,” grumbled Drogo, crossing his arms at his chest and frowning.

Sarah nodded, visibly calmed by the mentioning of the dean, and gingerly approached the large beast.

“All right, big kitty, let’s get you healed!”

It was late afternoon when Sienna decided to go check for a hundredth time on her big pet.

The low sun glowed in the windows with reddish gold, and the marks on the animal’s coat burned with a velvety sheen of good health. The beast’s eyes were clear and shiny, its tongue healthy pink. It lay royally on the table, squinting into the sun.

Sienna approached it and gently scratched its jaw.

“Let’s see how you’ve been doing, sweetie,” she whispered to it, studying the bandages. When the last of them was taken off, the girl grinned happily.

“Oh, how nice! Look at how you healed! It’s perfect! Almost no trace of the scar!”

She scratched the jaguar’s rib-cage, and it turned to its side to show its well-healed belly to the girl.

Its low rumbling purr made her laugh again.

“You purr like an industrial tractor! I will never tire of this sound!”

Unexpectedly, her hand touched something wet, and the girl looked at what she was scratching. The jaguar’s wet red penis was quickly reaching its full size.

“Oh dear… could you… um… turn into a man for that?”

But the animal did not seem to pay any attention to her words. Lightly, it jumped off the table and started playfully trying to knock the girl off her feet.

“That’s a sure sign of good health!” she tried to joke, carefully backing away.

The huge cat was trying to play with her and, at the same time, was advancing on her.

Sienna’s eyes twinkled with a mischievous sparkle.

“You will not hurt me, will you?” she asked the jaguar, letting it scratch its head against her thigh.

Her heart beat wildly when she unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. The jaguar lodged its wet nose into her pubic area and licked her with its abrasive tongue.

“No! Bad idea! Your tongue is too rough!”

She took off her pants along with underwear and went to the animal’s mattress. It followed her, pushing her with its huge soft paws with retracted claws. The girl began stroking the beast, taking pleasure in how its coarse fur felt on her skin, she stroked its tense testicles and wet penis, shuddering with acute sensations, and pressed to his wide chest with her naked breasts.

The jaguar growled, trying to turn her around and, when she did so, it started licking her nape.

The girl caught her breath, trying not to get scared, and felt the animal’s penis smoothly slide into her. She couldn’t retain a cry and lost herself in the strange feeling. The animal sex turned out to last only under a minute, then the girl’s sensations began radically change: the coarse fur brushing against her back and buttocks began thinning and disappearing, replaced by the smooth nakedness of human skin, the paws on both sides of her shoulders turned into well-muscled arms, and the growl changed tonality. After a few more thrusts, she felt the man shudder and back away from her.

Hurriedly, she turned to face him.

Sebastian was sitting on the edge of the mattress, his face ablaze with embarrassment.

But Sienna couldn’t care less! She jumped on him and squeezed him as tightly as she could, and covered his face with a thousand kisses.

“You! I could not breathe without you! I was worried sick! Thank god you’re alive! Sebastian! Please say something! Are you all right?!”

At first, he tried to resist her barrage of emotions, then he just fixed her face tightly between his palms and covered her lips with his mouth.

Their kiss was passionate and avid, their tongues twisted and coiled against one another, and they could not tear away from each other.

“I’m so sorry to have forced myself on you!” he finally whispered, dying of shame.

Sienna giggled.

“That was surely… uh… unexpected… But if I had to choose between you banging me and trying to pull you back from the dead, I’d say you go ahead and fuck me in any form you want! I nearly died seeing you suffering and leaking your life out with each breath! And remember, I will kill myself if you die! So, please be more careful in the future! What happened to you?”

Sebastian tightly hugged her and kissed her head.

“Thank you for saving me! Thank you all! You did pull me back from the edge, that’s for sure! Only your smell kept me from leaving. I was inhaling it and wanted to live…”

Sienna broke into a torrent of tears, suddenly aware of all the tension that had been wringing her all these days. The man let her cry on his shoulder, squeezing her tightly and kissing her head.

When the girl finally felt relieved, she rubbed his side and felt the scar with her fingertips. Then she examined his hands and kissed his palms now bearing practically no marks of the horrible ordeal.

She cuddled against her lover and just sat there listening to his breath.

The sunlight dimmed and disappeared when they finally stirred.

Sebastian looked into the girl’s eyes and whispered again:

“Thank you for saving my life!”

She nodded as if it was the most mundane thing on earth.

The man said:

“I would like to meet with the Bartolis and your Osborne friend to thank them all…”

Sienna shook her head.

“Sarah doesn’t know that you were that jaguar.”

“Oh. All right then…”

Sienna looked at the window.

“The guys should be home soon. I’ll go fetch you a blanket or something…”

“I’d like to have a shower…”

Sienna smiled and stroked his wide chest.

“Sure, my tidy beast! Lorie should be in her room, but I will still need to cover your loins to get you to the shower.”

Reluctantly, she rose from the mattress and went to take the plaid from the sofa.

Then she turned around and paused, looking at the man.

“I’m still afraid to see you disappear before my eyes… Don’t leave me again!”

Sebastian rose from his place and went to the girl, the feline fluidity of his movements looking very pronounced in his each step.

His gaze was very calm and direct.

“I will not. Life is unpredictable, but I’ll stay with you in my thought, in my heart, and in my breath for as long as exists my consciousness. I owe you that.”

He wiped away her tear and stroked her cheek.

Sienna sighed. She could not force herself to tear away from him, but made a superhuman effort and gave him the plaid.

“Let’s go upstairs…”


End file.
